AT&T Global Information Solutions

AT&T Global Information Solutions

Article excerpt

Hole-in-the-wall cash dispensers - more correctly known as automated teller machines, or ATMs - are among the more anonymous devices in common use. No one seems to know who makes them.

For the record, some 40% of the worldwide installed base is produced in Dundee by AT&T Global Information Solutions (formerly part of NCR, before that company's acquisition by AT&T). The factory is Scotland's seventh biggest exporter - and second biggest exporter of IT. A further 30,000 ATMs were dispatched last year.

Although `highly commended' in our Electronics and Electrical category, the factory was also a contender for the Engineering sector award. It possesses electronics and mechanical engineering capabilities in roughly equal parts: there is a sheet metal machine shop, a printed circuit board assembly plant, and other assembly, configuration and test areas - suggesting an impressive range of skills.

Since the factory has nine products but 1,129 variants, it's clear that kitting, manufacturability and configurability are of major importance. Every ATM is built to customer order, and in view of the distances involved - and the fact that sales are often made on the basis of promised delivery date - lead times are exceedingly tight. …